No Ghosts This Year #2

The walk home was generally a relief. Mark caught the bus home, so he wasn’t around to be a nuisance. And mostly Philip had the time to himself, to think and daydream. Sometimes he would take a book with him and try to read as he walked, but that was a hard thing to do.Continue reading “No Ghosts This Year #2”

No Ghosts This Year: A Story of Advent #1

hen holidays came, it would be okay. But for now Philip just had the long waiting days. The sun deceives us, he thought, into believing it’s holidays before it is. Last weekend he had made the mistake of sitting out on the verandah with his book, like he used to do with his sister inContinue reading “No Ghosts This Year: A Story of Advent #1”

20 Contemplations #10: Joy

Delight the Spirit feels in constant burst: Delight in Three, delight in all that’s good. And as the Son descends, is born, is God, Delight the Spirit feels at last, at first. Joy of Spirit fractures Earth’s rehearsed Ways of being happy. Earth gives a nod To God, then walks the path that Adam trod.Continue reading “20 Contemplations #10: Joy”

20 Contemplations #9: Logos

“…before Abraham was, I am.” (John 8:58) Eternity enters the human timeframe. Before movement had matter, He was: No beginning or conclusion; the same Yesterday, today, before all days. Even the hands of clocks he moves, sustains; And now He enters: the watchmaker within The mechanism; the infinite contained. Time baffles at the sight; whereContinue reading “20 Contemplations #9: Logos”

20 Contemplations #7: Crux

…he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. (Philippians 2:8) Did He view the Cross from birth? Did crossbeams In the stable tell Him where He’d go? Did He see the Cross in treetops’ glow As He flew to earth from Heaven’s beams? Perhaps as Joseph carvedContinue reading “20 Contemplations #7: Crux”

20 Contemplations #6: At Creation

All things were made through him, and without him was not any thing made that was made. (John 1:3) First birdsong and flight; new heavens groaning; These things we cannot see. They precede Sight, consciousness. All we know, he exceeds: The Face behind the flame and the foaming. Nothing made without Him: He moves across AstronomyContinue reading “20 Contemplations #6: At Creation”

20 Contemplations #5: Rhythm of the Three

No one has ever seen God; the only God, who is at the Father’s side, he has made him known. (John 1:18) “I and the Father are one.” Such mystery Finds no answer in biology. Why Not “I and my mother”? One for a time, Yet divided at birth, distinct in history. No, “I andContinue reading “20 Contemplations #5: Rhythm of the Three”

20 Contemplations #4: Magnify

But she was greatly troubled at the saying, and tried to discern what sort of greeting this might be. (Luke 1:29) Magnify, soul. Let mind expand; let heart Take in what cannot be contained. Discern, Yet know the limits of your thoughts. Return Again, again, to faith. Take humble part In grandest story. This isContinue reading “20 Contemplations #4: Magnify”

20 Contemplations #3: Downward Flight

…who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant… (Philippians 2:6-7) He wraps Himself in light. He orders stars And plunges to depths unseen since Adam. Watch the flurry of clouds; watch each atom’sContinue reading “20 Contemplations #3: Downward Flight”

Damascus Road Prayers: Advent 2

…as if He were a seed in our garden, or a small flash of light for our pupil, He shone forth and diffused and filled the earth. (Saint Ephrem the Syrian, Hymns for the Nativity) Days crack like soil. In the parts of the world where summer parches we wait like potholes for the rain.Continue reading “Damascus Road Prayers: Advent 2”